If you’ve ever purchased store bought almond or coconut milk, you may have noticed an ingredient called Carrageenan on the carton. This hard-to-pronounce little food additive is the reason I make my own nut milk as often as I have time for but it seems that there is a lot of confusion when it comes to this little known ingredient.
Carrageenans or carrageenins are a family of linear sulfated polysaccharides that are extracted from red edible seaweeds. They are widely used in the food industry, for their gelling, thickening, and stabilizing properties.
Carrageenan is not digestible and has no nutritional value. It is often used because it thickens and emulsifies products and it is often found even in organic and “natural” products.
Found in but certainly not limited to…
- 🍼baby formulas
- 🐄chocolate milk
- 🍧yogurt
- 🧀cottage cheese
- 🍦ice cream
- 🍂almond milk and other milk alternatives
- 🪤dairy alternatives… such as vegan cheeses
- 🥥coconut milk
- ☕️creamers
- 🥪deli meats
- 🦷toothpaste
Studies have shown that Carrageenan may promote or cause:
- ⛔️chronic inflammation
- ⚠️bloating
- ⛔️irritable bowel syndrome
- ⚠️glucose intolerance/impaired insulin levels
- ⛔️gastrointestinal cancers
- ⚠️heart disease
- ⛔️Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
- ⚠️food allergies
- ⛔️skin rashes
And much much more!
When your body has chronic inflammation it is the root cause of a plethora of illness and disease!
Thankfully, in 2016 the National Organic Standards Board voted to remove carrageenan from their list of approved ingredients this means foods containing carrageenan may no longer be labeled “USDA Organic”… BUT it is still in so many non-organic items so it’s so important to read those labels and limit processed foods.
Article by Lindsey Leigh